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A Romney-Palin ticket in ’12?  Sarah Palin for VP?  I couldn’t stop laughing, in between my gasps for air, when I read this article.  Yeah baby, bring ’em on. http://news.yahoo.com/sarah-palin-vice-president-again-205900862.html I am all for a Romney-Palin ticket because it is the best and surest possible way to ensure an Obama victory.  It would be mayhem…

Poor test results by students?  Blame the teacher!  This is an increasingly common presumption and accusation.  But, blaming the teacher for the ills and failures in student test scores is a fallacy.  To blame teachers when parents are remiss or entirely absent from the quotient is shameful. SEE: http://capoliticalnews.com/2012/01/20/lawsuit-against-lausd-could-shake-up-how-ca-evaluates-teachers/#comment-66829 I agree that student success with the…

Please consider the following website:  http://www.foreignpolicy.com/failed_states_index_2012_interactive I recall walking around the dusty villages of eastern/coastal Kenya in 1994.  I recall being in Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, and being anchored off the coast of Somalia in 1994.  Back then, I sensed a tension, an underlying layer of dissent, fear, and anger in local communities.  During my…

There are many great and near-great performances of Bartok’s Romanian Dances, usually performed on violin or viola or cello with piano, or for piano solo too.  There is an orchestral version too. I love this music and have played the viola and the violin versions myself with a lot of pleasure and some degree of…

This story oozes with potential as a dramatic feature film, Hollywood-style.  Maybe structured like the film, “Amadeus,†with Hess reminiscing and storytelling, covering the emotional, psychological, and historical gamut? http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/07/world/europe/germany-hitler-reprieve/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I will dedicate an entire section area to the category of spiders.  This is the first entry, in the category of spiders but it is not day #1 of the story.  I will write more on this topic.  I intend to write many stories about spiders and myself, the relationship of spiders with me and…

This is Our Planet This time-lapse video of a satellite journey flying around and around the earth is remarkable.  Very cool. Make sure to fully upload the video file so it renders before you try to play it through–to preserve the effect of constant movement.

I prefer the word, mastery, instead of proficiency, but as I watched the exchange between Al Franken and Betty DeVos I heard reference to the “proficiency v growth†debate.  It reminds me the assessment of learning is no easy matter, and it takes time, thought and effort to understand such issues.  Unfortunately, Betty DeVos doesn’t seem to be familiarized…

FREE audio and visual resources: www.Sounddogs.com . www.Pond5.com www.AudioNetwork.com www.MusicBakery.com 

I am using Peter and the Wolf and The Lion King (with Study Guide) as visual and aural learning resources as I teach four brilliant 2nd graders from Seoul, South Korea (ESL for Special Purposes), These kids are a huge wake up call for me.  Their brilliance reflects poorly upon our local and national educational system in the USA…